Piston Hondo
Piston Honda is a boxer from Tokyo, Japan. His quirks include the fact that Piston Honda's name and trademark Banzai Rush Attack (also known as the Piston Rush and the Hondo Rush) are reminiscent of Piston Hurricane from the earlier Punch-Out!! arcade game and later Super Punch-Out!! Super Nintendo game. The theme music played for Piston Honda is a quote from "Sakura", a Japanese folk song. Also, derived from Honda's quotes; NHK is an actual broadcasting company in Japan (but is replaced by "my camera crew" in Virtual Console version) and "Sushi, Kamikaze, Fujiyama, Nipponichi..." is genuine, if randomly babbled, Japanese. Piston Honda has also appeared as a Hasbro Action Figure and in a Topps trading card series. Honda also appears in the pages of the Nintendo Comics System in a story called "Outsiders" where, despite his fearsome demeanor in the game, he is shown to be an altruist who is a boxer to raise money to build hospitals and schools in poor parts of the country. Appearances ''Punch-Out!! featuring Mr. Dream'' (1987–1990) Piston Honda made two appearances on the 1987 Nintendo Entertainment System game Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!! first as the Minor Circuit Champion and later as Little Mac's first opponent in the World Circuit. The first real challenge for new Punch-Out!! players, Honda has a weak defense but is much improved when compared to Glass Joe or Von Kaiser. His jab and uppercuts hit hard and for an unprepared opponent his Piston Rush (a series of rotating left and right jabs) can be bad news. After dispatching Piston Honda for the Minor Circuit Championship Little Mac meets up with him again in the World Circuit. Honda returns with increased defense, aggression, a "wiggling uppercut", and an improved version of his Piston Rush. ''Punch-Out!!'' (2009) Piston Honda made an appearance in the title Punch-Out!! but his name has been changed to Piston Hondo for an unknown reason, probably to avoid the mention of the car manufacter Honda. He uses the same attacks that he used in Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!!. He is voiced by seiyuu Kenji Takahashi for this edition of Punch-Out!!! (there is an error in his Japanese when he mentions Mt. Fuji as "Fujiyama" as it is really called "Fujisan"). He has only been defeated once (presumably by Mr. Sandman) but the person who defeated him discovered that the key to beating him was to watch his eyebrows. Small sushi items fly off when you punch him, so they appear again after you knock down Piston Hondo, and he retains his same style from the NES game. Additionally, in a rather polite manner, he will bow during the beginning of the match. Japanese anime voice actor Kenji Takahashi provides his voice. One Hit Knockdown Counter his first attack and dodge the rest, until he bows. When he bows, release a Star Uppercut to send him to the mat no matter how much energy he has left. The second one hit knockdown is when you counter his Hondo Rush. "One Hit Knockout" Counter the Hondo Rush with a three star uppercut, or if you have the patience, hit him with a three star punch when he bows to finish him for good. Title Defense mode Piston Honda returns to fight Little Mac once again in Title Defense to win the champion's belt. His clothes change from black to white this time, and he gains some new moves from his training (learning how to catch swords, eat without gaining weight and running faster than a bullet train). His existing moves also become faster. When he bows, he can be punched for an easy star. However, this only works the first time he bows. During the rest of the match he will counter if punched when bowing. However, if you block when he punches, you WILL get a star when you punch him. Instant KO Trick To instantly KO Piston Hondo, counter his Hondo Rush (signaled by his footwork from left to right) correctly and he'll be sent down to the mat in a hurry. If you want, you can also Star Uppercut him while he is bowing (logistically, this would knock out anybody really) for an instant knockdown (as in the ref counts). If you star punch him when he's moving left and right before using an uppercut (happens after he gets up from his first KO), he'll get another knock out if timed correctly (A three star punch will instantly win the match). Exhibition challenges Challenger: # Defeat Piston Hondo and land EVERY punch thrown! # Find both one-punch-knockdown weak spots. # Win the fight with 34 or more remaining hearts! Quotes Punch-Out!! featuring Mr. Dream'' (NES):' * "I still remember our first fight. Now I'm gonna pay you back.. Banzai!!" (World Circuit fight) * "I'll give you a TKO from Tokyo!" * "Sushi, kamikaze, fujiyama, nipponichi..." meaning Raw fish, divine wind, a volcano in Japan, and "(I am) Japan's number one" respectively. * "You should wear a helmet when you fight me." * "Where is my camera crew? Hello Tokyo!" (In the current version of ''Punch-Out!! featuring Mr. Dream available for the Virtual Console, this quote replaces "Where is the NHK TV camera? Hello Tokyo!" which Honda utters in NES pressings of the game.) Punch-Out!! (Wii): * "Ichi, ni, oriya!" meaning "One, two, here we go!" (before throwing an uppercut) * "Shimatta!"meaning "Damn!" * "Yaba!" meaning "Damn!" * "Doo da?" meaning "How's that?" * "Osoi!" meaning "Too slow!" * "Ichi, ni, san, shi, go, roku, shichi, hachi!" meaning "one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight!" * "Sessha, Hondo to mousu." meaning "Hello I'm Hondo." * "Munen!" meaning "How regretful this is!" Mid-Round Intermission '''''Punch-Out!! (Wii): Challenger: Piston Hondo has six confirmed "Intermissions". They appear in pairs, but only the first two are usually seen, and the others may require certain tactics used in the match, to be seen, such as using "Counters" with Hooks. (unconfirmed stipulaton). 1 & 2: Sitting down and speaking. 3 & 4: While sitting down again, he holds up one of two items (Sushi Platter, or incense), and speaks, before putting them down again. 5 & 6: Standing and speaking. Category:Characters Category:Punch-Out!! console characters Category:Punch-Out!! featuring Mr. Dream characters